Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2 Corinthians 4:1
Of the thirteen letters that came from the pen of the Apostle Paul, none is more personal and intimate than the letter in your Bible known as 2 Corinthians.
In this letter, Paul opened his heart with a vulnerability that reveals all of the stress marks of living on the edge. He admits, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). His was not the attitude of “Poor me! Oh look how much I’ve suffered!”
He writes, “Let no one take me for a fool,” yet he points out that life was not always easy. “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one,” he says, continuing, “Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a day and a night in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in dangers from rivers, in dangers from bandits, in dangers from my own countrymen,” and so forth (2 Corinthians 11:16, 24-26).
How much does it take to stop a person dead in his tracks? Whatever the answer, it took more than that to cause Paul to quit. But the question is, “Did this man have a corner on God’s strength?” And if he did, are there some insights that can help us when we feel driven into the corner by the circumstances of life?
In this same letter, Paul used a phrase twice: “we do not lose heart” (2 Corinthians 4:1,16). That phrase, to lose heart, is an interesting one. Used only one other time in the New Testament (in this passage), it defines what discouragement is: losing heart. The same word was used in an old first century manuscript when a woman in labor in childbirth despairs of ever bringing forth a child.
Webster defines discouragement as that which causes one to weaken, to give up, to despair. So, what causes us to lose heart today? Three things which can be described as (1) Physical causes, (2) Emotional causes, (3) Spiritual causes.
First, whenever a person struggles with his health, with physical weariness, with sickness that persists, that individual may lose heart, wondering, “Will I ever get well?” Then, when we are disappointed: a marriage begins to fail, your finances are in shambles, you think you face a hopeless situation, and you begin to lose heart. Finally, there are times when Satan opposes the child of God who strives to do right, and you begin to wonder if it is worth the effort and you lose heart and grow discouraged.
Ok, we can identify with the problem. But what’s the solution? In the same passage where Paul says he doesn’t lose heart, he gives it to us. In two words, the answer is renewal and perspective. Here’s how he put it: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. [For] we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Renewal, the great secret which God taught us through the seasons, means time in the Word, time alone with God, time to regain physical strength and perspective, keeping the main things of life the main thing. And that’s the way you can say with Paul, “Therefore we do not lose heart.” Many today have lost heart. Hopefully, you’re not one of them. If so, remember: renewal, and perspective, are the keys to survival.
Resource reading: 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
